I Think I Can Feel My Toes.

Friday night I was determined, once again, to film the full moon rising over Manhattan. There had been a lot of cloud cover in the past few months at moonrise and clouds covered the horizon on Thursday, as well.

But on Friday, the sky is clear and I was ready to go.  My Focalware app on my iPhone would point in the direction the moon will appear and my gear was already in the car.

Just an hour earlier, I had received an inquiry from my stock agent.

"Do you have s shot of the Chelsea Hotel at night?  I have a client in LA that needs an establisher for a TV show".

I thought for a moment and responded. "Let me check.  Is tomorrow morning alright?"

I didn't have one.  At least not yet.  But, clear weather was predicted and I already have my gear in the car.  Heck, I'll just jump in the city and shoot it.

It was cold all day and I knew the temperature was dropping rapidly.  I put on thermals and carefully layered my clothing.  I have often worked in extreme cold before, so I felt quite prepared.

My first location was a pier in nearby Hoboken.  Even though I had left plenty of time to park and prepare for my shot, there was no free parking for several blocks.  I drove to the nearest lot and parked.

With camera, tripod and camera bag, I began the 5 block walk to the Hudson.  It was only then that I felt the stiff wind coming off the river.  The wind chill made the 18-degree cold feel like zero.   The pier pushed about 80 yards into the river and there was absolutely nothing out there to obstruct the breeze.

I pulled off my glove to check the location on my phone and it would not work properly.  Apparently, all of the metal railing and benches around me on the pier were affecting the iPhones internal compass.

So, based on my earlier readings, I took my best guess and pointed across the river towards 34th Street.

Unfortunately, I was off by about 30 blocks and the moon rose beautifully, further uptown.  I quickly changed my position, but it was too late. The moon had already risen above the buildings.

One of the benefits of using a camera that writes to a card (in my case the Sony EX3), is that there is little chance of the cold affecting your media.  In the not so long ago days of tape, I would have to leave the camera on from the time I left the car, to keep it warm.   If I dare to open the camera to change tapes in this type of extreme cold, I ran the risk that the blast of cool air would cause condensation to form on the tape drum, which would then, at the worst, stick to your tape and at the best, shut down the camera and set off the dew indicator light.  With solid state, no such problem.


I stayed long enough to film the moon rising over the city and a few static night shots with the last glow of the western sky reflecting off the buildings.  I was done.

I have photographed glaciers in Alaska and filmed on the ice in the frozen arctic, but neither seemed as cold as I was feeling at this moment.  It was biting a my face and slowly penetrating my gloves.  I picked up my gear and headed back to the garage.

My first inclination was to high tail it home, but I had made a commitment to deliver the hotel shot, so, after thawing my hands in the car for a few minutes, I headed into Manhattan.

Fortunately, parking was accessible and I was able to leave my car on 24th Street, only one block away from the hotel.  Perhaps I was more used to the cold at this point, but the city felt much warmer, or at least there was not as much wind as on the river.

Fortunately, other than a few curious onlookers and the danger of dodging taxis while standing near the outside edge of parked cars, I was able to get the hotel shots without incident.

24 hours later and I think I can feel my toes again.

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I'm Shooting in the Rain

I bought raincoats for my EX1 and EX3 cameras this week from an outfit called Camrade.   I promised myself that would continue my personal quest to film in and  around NYC, despite the grim weather that appears every time I have spare time to shoot.   Nonetheless, I insist on keeping my vow and I’ll feel a lot better with the camera protected from the elements.   I’ll also be able to stay in business, longer.

I had been using my Sony Z1 HDV for this kind of stuff, but I’ve been spoiled by the higher quality of XDCAM.

There are few things I’ve learned about outdoor shooting:

1.     Get off the main road.

2.     Get out of your car.

3.     Bring a tripod.

4.     Don’t wait for a sunny day.

The first two sound obvious, but they’re not.  Scouting for a great shot from your car is like looking for a good movie from outside the video store.   There are dynamic images all around, but sometimes you have to just stop and stare awhile.   I’ve shot a lot of beautiful footage in Ireland, but from the comfort of our car, one town looks just like the next, as do the gorgeous, rolling, green hills between those towns.  But, a short walk into a field or out to the coast will yield remarkable imagery.

And using Ireland as an example, well, there’s a place you just can’t sit around waiting for a sunny day.  You just have to make the best of the Irish Mist and start shooting.  Regardless of where you are filming, make sure that your camera is well protected.  Especially if you might get hit by ocean spray.

The first step is to cover your lens with a UV filter.  This not only keeps it dry, it also protects the lens from greasy fingers and potential dings.  You can leave it on all the time.  If a camera raincoat is not within your immediate grasp, grab a plastic garbage bag and make your own.  After cutting holes for the lens and eyepiece, make sure to secure those areas with a rubber band or two to prevent water from getting into the camera.   

On a rainy day the white sky can be 3 or 4 stops brighter than the ground below, so a grad filter can help modify the light.  I usually carry several different densities of graduated filters from Formatt that fit my matte box, but you can find less expensive screw-on filters, as well.

I like using a tripod when shooting in the rain as it gives me an extra hand when trying to focus or change exposure with a cover on the camera. 

I’ve yet to find a tripod that will get ruined in the rain and I find it to be a great asset when the camera is in a raincoat or covered with plastic.  This is especially true in winter, when I want any free hand to be in my pocket. 

As a side note, I do make sure to rinse off the tripod’s legs and feet immediately after the shoot if they’ve come in contact with mud, sand and especially, salt water.  I also protect them with a little silicone spray before leaving the studio.

This weekend I was back out on the streets filming.  There was only a light sprinkle of rain, but I confidently worked through it.  The reflections of cars on the wet streets gave a beautiful glow to the images. 

I appeared to be the only nut, out in the rain with a camera, but the shots were worth the effort and there is no way I could have filmed them in the warm comfort of my living room.

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Day Four, Englewood Medical Center

We returned to Englewood Hospital today for the fourth of five planned shoot days.

It’s possible that we could have produced most of the footage required for our two films using up fewer days, but the surgeons are always on call and emergencies are a very real possibility.  So, to make things move more smoothly, we scheduled our production days to allow flexibility for the many doctors, administrators and technicians we had to film.  So far, we’ve been really lucky permitting Devin, our contact at the hospital to fill each production day from top to bottom.

Any extra minutes have been spent filming additional B-Roll, (background footage) in whatever area we happen to be in.  Later, during the edit process, this extra footage will prove invaluable.  As an Irish director I’ve worked with used to say. “ I’d rather be looking at a shot than looking for it.”

Today, we captured several interviews using environmental settings around the medical center.  Although we have scouted these locations in advance and chose them for their seclusion and relative calm, it is another rule of production that as soon as you start your camera, someone will roll a noisy cart down a nearby hallway, a fire truck will wail down the street or a backhoe will begin beeping just outside the window.   My personal favorite is the gas-powered leaf blower that can kill any shot from nearly a half-mile away.

We logged all of those issues at some point today, but fortunately, our interviews fell comfortably in between the distractions and the end result were far better than being locked away in a sterile conference room.

The soft background was created using a Letus depth of field adaptor on the EX1.  The Letus attaches to my existing lens allowing me use lenses from my 35mm camera.   Using this type of adaptor narrows the depth of field and creates a more selective plane of focus, permitting me to have a sharp focus on my primary subject while throwing the background into a beautiful softness. 

The results are astounding.  Ordinary backgrounds blur and return an image with a much higher production value. 

Unfortunately, this type of accessory is a bit of a pain to set up.  You have to mount and balance the unit, calibrate the internal ground glass, focus your 35mm lens and most importantly, remember to turn it on.   It also limits how much you can zoom your lens.  So, I usually bring two cameras if I intend to use the adaptor, so that one of them is dedicated strictly to this purpose.  Finally, I’ve assigned the task of remembering to turn the Letus on to my assistant, Arion.  Forgetting that could blow a great take.

The Manfrotto 536 tripod has become a regular part of my location kit.  Aside from its height and reduced weight, it also allows me to clamp a small HD monitor on the legs of the tripod, rather than attaching it onto the camera.  I find this arrangement to be less cumbersome, especially when I have to change locations often and rather quickly.   It also makes it easy to spin the monitor in another direction if a client wants to see the composition.

Another small part of our script required some product shots of some very small bottles.  For this, we brought along a compact, electric turntable to give some life to a very inanimate object.  We also brought along a Nikon macro lens that, combined with the Letus adaptor, allowed us to get extremely close and made our subject really pop from the background.   It also made it more fun to shoot.

A good shoot is when we come home with tons of great footage and the client is pleased with the results.  A great shoot is all that, plus experiencing something new and unique. 

That new experience makes our production day much more rewarding.

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Miss Kitty, Nellie the Talking Harp and the Jedi Master

Yesterday’s video production was a musical introduction to some fun children’s stories.  In the spotlight was a lovely Irish actress named Kitty O’Shea. 

“Ah sure now” you say.  The name alone should be enough to want to be pointing a camera in her direction. 

Kitty has created a series of adorable songs and poems that are performed by her close friend “Nellie”.  Nellie is an Irish harp.  Kitty does all the talking.

Jeff “Jedi Master” Jones, a brilliant producer and recording engineer, introduced Kitty to Sarah and I.
In recent years, Jeff had recorded several CDs with Kitty and knew just what to expect.  Jeff was also the recipient of a Grammy last year, for his live recording of Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson and it is a testament to his art that he was still working with all his original clients.  He is a perfectionist of the nth degree and I was really glad he was there.

The video was to be about five minutes long and it was our hopes to create it in one fluid take.  I had a hunch there might be some variations as we went along, so, I brought along a second camera.  This way, one camera could remain a wide shot while the second camera pushed in for some close ups.

As one camera was going to be a “lock off”,  I felt I really didn’t need a second camera operator.  Nonetheless, I still had to schlep twice the amount of gear.   (I'm always schlepping gear.)

For the wide shot, I mounted a Letus Extreme depth of field adaptor on my Sony EX1 and fitted it with a 85mm 1.8 lens from Nikon.  The Letus helps create a very narrow margin of focus, allowing for Kitty to be sharp and the background to soft.   A very pretty look and an essential component to getting a more filmic look in my production.  To that end, I also shot in 1080 24P.

The second camera, an EX 3 sat slightly farther back along the same eye line.  This camera’s lens was zoomed its maximum telephoto setting, which would also help blur the background, allowing both shots to match.  Using two cameras with different lens settings will allow me to edit between takes without any sort of jump cut.

Kitty, though beautifully preserved, is older than 28, and there was little need to prove how accurately my lenses could record her features.  To this end, I added a ¼ Supermist Clear filter from Formatt to both camera lenses to reduce contrast a bit while adding the slightest halation to any bright highlights on Kitty’s harp.  Very pretty.

The background was a muted color, painted muslin with a subtle streak of light from an Arri 300w Fresnel.   My key light was provided by an Arri, open faced 1K, shining through a Chimera soft box.  A second 600w soft box on an Omni light, added some side fill light.  Everything looked great and we were good to go.

It was a nice change to be able to leave the audio recording to Jeff.  Setting up the audio for a harp looks simple, but it had some minor complications. 

Jeff brought along a studio ribbon microphone that he mounted on a boom stand and he mounted a specialized, lavaliere sized mic, directly on the base of the harp.   He then placed my Sony ECM 670 shotgun mic a few feet out of frame and fed that directly into camera A, while the other two microphones, amplified and modified, passed through his gear, before being sent to camera B.  The sound, even before any additional sweetening was phenomenal.

Jeff’s partner, JoAnne assisted him with placement and wiring, while Sarah organized everything on our end.  Sarah also marked each take with a basic clapper slate to aid in syncing the footage in post.

After three or four takes, Kitty really nailed it with a near perfect performance.  Just one tiny, little line was needed to satisfy the production and of course, in a room full of perfectionists, this would take an additional two hours.

Fortunately, we had only booked the studio for four hours.  Otherwise, we’d probably still be there.   

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My Father’s Camera

My interest in photography and video is clearly due to my father.  My dad loved taking pictures and he carried his camera, a Pentax H1A, everywhere.  His job took him on the road daily and he was always looking for visual opportunities.

He would find pretty country scenes and photograph them from the same position in all four seasons and he had a passion for fire trucks and steam engines, so many of our vacations included museums and restored railroads.

He only used the 50mm Takumar lens that came with the camera.  Nothing else and he shot amazing images.  If he wanted to get closer, he moved closer and in place of a wide-angle lens, he moved back.

In fact, the only other accessories I remember was an A1 skylight filter on the lens and a little blower brush that he carried in his bag.  His real focus was taking pictures, not collecting gear.

He competed in local camera club competitions and often won awards.  More importantly, he documented people and place that are no longer with us.

All was good and then, without warning, it happened.  My dad became a photo gear junkie. 

First, a 100mm lens, then, a 35mm lens.  A flash, filters, light meter, the list grew.  Now, instead of taking pictures he was fussing with his accessories.   His image quality rapidly tanked and the new camera bag when filled with all the gadgets was so heavy that he hardly ever brought it along.  Eventually, he bought a point & shoot to take pictures of the grand kids and his photographs never looked the same again.

Very sad, it was.  He genuinely had talent.

I keep his camera on my shelf as a reminder that the image and the story that you tell with that image, is much more important than the camera you shot it with. 

Although it’s nice to own the latest HD camera with a matte box and follow focus, you don't need all that stuff to make your first film.   I’ve recently seen many documentaries created with lower resolution formats like DV, Hi8 and even Super8 and Video 8mm appearing on HBO and several other cable programs.

If you can afford the best, by all means, go for it. Until then, use the best equipment available to you

If you have a story to tell, tell it in whatever medium you can get your hands on.  Get out there and document people, places and events that mean something to you.  Document these things now, because they may not wait around until you get the camera of your dreams.

www.duckyou.com

A Different Spin on Photography

Today I traveled to Washington, DC with some dear friends of mine, Barbara and Justin Kerr.  I worked for the Kerrs as a photo assistant in the 70s, just a few years after I left school and today, I had the pleasure of assisting them again.

Justin was a successful fashion photographer who, instead of falling in love with the models, nurtured a deep passion for pre-Columbian art.  He has since become a bit of an expert on the subject and has been the recipient of an honorary doctorate.

His wife Barbara, was the team’s fashion stylist, and expert photo retoucher.  Her skills evolved to art restoration and now, collectors worldwide seek her skills and experience.

I have to admit that back then, I really wasn't that thrilled with their decision to pursue this type of photography full time.  I preferred spending my darkroom time printing images of pretty French models much more than Mayan statues and pots.

Still, they were great to work and Justin was a master at his craft.  I was learning a lot about lighting.  Techniques I still use.  There were always there for me and it was at a time in my life that I really needed someone to be there.  They also let me use the studio and all their gear at night and on weekends for free.  A godsend and a tradition that I continue to maintain with my assistants today.

When Barbara called and asked me to help them with this project, I jumped at the opportunity to spend the day with them.

I picked them up, very early this morning at their Manhattan studio and we barreled on down the NJ Turnpike.  Our destination was the Library of Congress.  

Back in the 70s, Justin designed and built a peripheral camera he calls “the Roll Out” camera.  The camera was the result of his frustration filming the exterior artwork on Mayan pots and vases.  Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Mayan artisans painted symbols and characters around some of their art objects.   Justin would photograph a pot from several sides and then try to paste the photos together to form one long photograph, but the curvature of the pot always caused distortion.  So, he set out to find

a way to fix this the problem. 

Now you might say, “Hey.  I can stitch it together in Photoshop”.  Right?  Unfortunately, that would not be available for about another 25 years. 

Justin figured out a system that worked in a similar fashion to the way planes used to be used to map cities.   He slowly spun a pot on a motorized turntable and then, using a Hasselblad camera with a custom built film holder, he moved the film past a narrow slit in the camera.   There was nothing like this available commercially, so he taught himself how to use a metal lathe built the thing from scratch.

After about a year of experimentation, he finally got it right.  The resulting negative looked as if you had taken the label off a soup can and laid it out flat.  It was brilliant.

Now, nearly forty years later, Justin has “rolled out” over six thousand art objects for books, museums and collectors all around the world.  He has published several books of his work and the entire Kerr collection will be archived in Washington and available online, to students and researchers.  

I truly felt honored to assist them today.

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Following My Own Advise

Although there are times when I like to just roam around with a camera and let instinct and luck lead the way, I have found that for me, planning my shooting day is truly a valuable asset.

Often, I will spend a day scouting several areas with a still camera and log the locations in a small notebook.   I write down the location that I am standing at, as well as the direction and elevation of the composition that I see.  I also write down the time of day and the position of the sun.  If I see a cool shot of the sun reflecting off the windows of a high rise building on the west side of town at 4pm, you can be pretty certain that it won’t be there at any other time of day.

Another thing I try to note is whether there is economical parking nearby and if not, where is the closest location.  It’s also important to know if an area is private or restricted.  Yesterday, I ran into problems with both.

As much of my filming is conducted on the west side of Manhattan, I decided to spend the latter part of my day concentrating on the east side, near 42^nd Street.  The area is a bit elevated I had seen some great possibilities while cruising down Second Ave a few days prior, so I jumped right in.

Did I follow my own advise for pre-planning my locations?
Absolutely.  Not.

As it was Saturday, I drove around the area for a few minutes to see if there was any chance of legal street parking.  This is a long shot in NYC and misreading a sign can be a very costly mistake.  Sometimes, getting a ticket for parking illegally is a blessing compared to the nightmare of having your car towed away.

Seeing that there was nothing available, I parked in a nearby garage.   The sun would soon be going down and I was anxious to get on with my shooting.  Apparently, too anxious to notice it was one of NYC's more expensive facilities.

I grabbed my gear and headed for 2^nd Avenue.  The sun, low in the January sky backlit the all the cars and traffic signals.  It was gorgeous!

Suddenly, the constant roar of traffic was broken by the squawk of a police radio followed by a tap on my shoulder.

“Uh… What are you’re doing?” the officer inquired.

“I’m filming NYC.”  I responded confidently, although a moment later, it felt like a dumb thing to say.

Then again, here I was looking through a camera...

The New York City Film Board, the agency in charge of issuing filming permits, states on there website that you are allowed to film on city streets and sidewalks, without a permit, as long as you have nothing more than a camera and tripod.  Anything more, like a grip stand or sand bag requires a permit, which they will happily provide.  So, I knew that I was acting according to the city rules.

To make a long story short, I had parked my tripod near a building that housed a foreign embassy and although there were no signs or warnings, I was now doing something that was apparently, very illegal and subject to arrest.

The officer was pretty cool and he had noted that I was pointing my camera at the street and not the embassy.  He explained the situation and asked how long I’d be.

The shot was already in the can, so I said, “I’m done.” and began closing my tripod.

Not two seconds later a van filled with more police officers appeared from behind me, siren whooping away.

“Whaddayathink your doin’?”   A voice barked at me.

This time, I was interrogated, a bit less politely; by an officer whose use of adjectives, combined with a Brooklyn accent, clearly illustrated his point of view.

Nonetheless, he explained that the embassy that I was filming near was private property and that due to NYC’s heightened security, filming this close to the United Nations (a few blocks away on First Avenue) required a special filming permit if you are going to use a pro camera and tripod.  Finally, he said that this permit is to be issued by the community affairs department for that area.

He checked my ID and after a minute, released me.

As I intend to film more in the area, I’ll certainly seek the agency that can provide me with the permit.  And as Murphy’s Law has illustrated time and time again, as soon as I have the permit, nobody will ask to see it.    Maybe I look more confident with it.

Oh!  And the parking?  Fifty bucks for two hours!

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I Love NY!

Last year while Sarah and I were filming and photographing around Dublin, Ireland, I stopped and said, “Y’know if we were tourists in New York, we would never stop taking pictures of the city, but we live nearby and take it for granted.”

So, it was at that moment that we decided to start filming around Manhattan.  There is an endless amount of amazing imagery in New York City.  All you have to do is pick a spot and look around.  Of course, in New York you have to look up, as well.

As luck would have it, a few months later my friend Maurice Linnane was directing a small indie feature and asked if I would shoot some additional imagery around the city to be used in his film.  There wasn’t a whole lot in the budget, but gathering the additional stock footage of Manhattan would certainly be worth the time invested.  And to make the filming more fun and interesting I added a few more items to my kit.

The first new accessory is an adaptor from Mike Tapas in the UK that allows me to use my longer Nikon lenses on my Sony EX3. Using a lens this long in the city creates an entirely new world of images.  Taxis and traffic lights compress and seem to stack on top of each other.  Details on tall and distant buildings become visible and the tiniest details will be isolated from their background.

Another item in my bag is a Nikon 180mm 2.8 lens.   When using the adaptor on the Sony the combination increases the lens focal length by a factor of 5.4, which in essence, turns my 180mm 2.8 into a 1000mm 2.8

The depth is usually shallow at 180mm but at 1000mm it is extremely brief, helping to create absolutely stunning images, but requiring a decent fluid head on a steady set of sticks as the slightest vibration will be extremely noticeable at this range.  Even busses and trucks rumbling past can affect your shots.  So, although it might be a pain to carry the extra weight, it will pay off in the end product.

A solid platform is also helpful when I’m shooting NYC from across the river in Weehawken or Hoboken.  The breeze off the river can be fairly brisk and a great shot-like a time lapse of a full moon rising over Manhattan-will be ruined if your camera shakes.  

Of course, as soon as you put a long lens on your camera, the “wide angle shot of a lifetime” shows up just to satisfy Murphy’s Law.   This is why I always bring the EX3’s zoom lens, as well.

I have to be extremely careful changing lenses and adjusting matte boxes and filters while standing on a corner in a busy town like New York.   I usually carry a small, “comfortable” Porta Brace bag leaving enough room to swap lenses and lens caps easily.  Also a decent lens cleaning cloth and emergency plastic bags are a must. 

Most important:

1.     Always turn off the camera when changing lenses.

2.     Never put your bag down on the sidewalk or even leave it unzipped while you’re filming in NYC.  Not for a single second.
    
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One From the Heart

This month Sarah and I have been working on a very cool project for the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center of New Jersey.  The topic of is Blood Management and Bloodless Surgery and todays shoot was open-heart surgery.

Bloodless surgery has been proven effective and safer than some traditional techniques and is often employed when a blood transfusion is not an option for a patient for medical or religious grounds. 

I’ve filmed medical procedures in the past, but this was truly intense.

Sarah stayed home for this one.  Arion Doerr was my assistant and he assured me that this kind of thing wouldn’t bother him, but just in case, our escort, Ramon, assured him that there were two doors he could bolt through if he felt the least bit uncomfortable.   Well, Arion earned his merit badge today for hanging in there for over 4 hours.

We were given strict instructions on operating room conduct and shown a perimeter that was safe for us to, well, operate in.  We were dressed in scrubs, hairnets and masks and were ready to go.  I’ll admit that I hardly slept the night before.  I‘m pretty good at watching this kind of stuff without getting queasy, but there is always a bit of anxiety and neither of us had had a chance to grab breakfast at 5 am.  

To keep things manageable, we avoided any additional accessories like a depth of field adaptor or anything else that I might complicate the filming process.  I used a 32 & 16 gig card in the Sony EX3.  This provided me with slightly less than three hours of uninterrupted filming at 1080 60i.

Although I did some handheld shots, the best results were on sticks and a having the tall 526 Manfrotto was truly an asset.  The best visuals were from around 7 feet and I was able to flip up the viewfinder and monitor off the internal screen from below.

The lighting was a mix of fluorescent and halogen and I preset all my white balance settings during the preparations so the green scrubs would not affect the balance.  I also used the 684 Tru Cut filter to eliminate any infrared contamination common to the first two EX cameras.

It was fascinating.  While you’re watching the procedure through the camera, it’s just like watching it at home on the Discovery Channel.  It was also a bit humbling, as well.  To see the patient’s heart beating, with his life in the hands of the surgeons and support staff.  All so flippin’ real and incredible.

You count your blessings on the spot.

The operation and the filming were both successful and I have a new, genuine appreciation for medical professionals.

We packed the gear, looked at each other and I said “Lunch?”.

www.duckyou.com

Reflection on Experimentation

I’ve been photographing and filming professionally for close to 30 years and I still get excited going to work.  One of the unique elements of this business is the access and opportunity to witness and shoot cool, behind-the-scenes events.  We’ve been privileged to meet people and visit places others just dream of and for that, I am most grateful.

During the launch of U2’s Vertigo tour Sarah and I endured several days of private concerts while filming the band’s rehearsals in LA and San Diego.  We got to stay in hotels we normally could not afford and if we could, our rooms would have looked much different.  I say, “endured” because we also witnessed, first hand, the hump and grind that goes into putting on a world class rock show.  It’s quite enough for the “rock experience” to lose a bit of its sparkle.

I’ve time lapsed the assembly of every type of motorcycle Harley-Davison makes from Capitol to York and traveled to rallies on three continents.  More recently, Sarah and I filmed baby lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) at Six Flags Great Adventure & Wild Safari.  Oh yeah, and then there was that Victoria’s Secret “angel”.

In truth, not every production we’re involved is that glamorous, but regardless of the subject or budget we always choose to treat each project with the same level of enthusiasm.  Notice I said "choose" and not "try".  Experiment!  I love working with my cameras and every production gives me a chance to try something new, or at the least, a little different than the last project. 

In the fall, I was hired to shoot some candid photos at the launch of a new pharmaceutical product.  Now, after awhile that can kind of shoot can get a bit repetitious.  So, after I took the usual photo,  instead of using a flash I pushed the ISO way up to 3200 on my Nikon D3 and shot with a 300mm 2.8.  The images were amazing, but on this occasion the mixed light sources on the stage made the color a little wonky, so I changed the images to B&W in Lightroom and the client love the photos.

Not only did it make the images more fun to create, I also received kudos from the CEO for not disturbing the speakers with my flash.  Now, I get requests for new techniques all the time.

Experimentation is key to creating fresh images and getting acquiring new clients.

When I first started working in film and video production the gear was extremely expensive and owning my own broadcast camera was totally out of the question.  But, I really wanted to do this.  I began by creating films with whatever type of camera was available.  Super 8, 16mm, Hi8, U-Matic.  Whatever.   The end result was much less important than learning the process of lighting, camera moves and most importantly, creating interesting content.   When I finally did get to use professional gear, al that experimentation assured that my skills were already in place.  The camera becomes transparent and it’s like playing a guitar without having to look at the frets.

This is handy when you’re told. “OK, Adam, Larry and the Edge are here.  You've got five minutes!”.

All of this is to say that it’s not by chance that we've been in business for this length of time.  Experimentation helps us discover new and exciting ways to keep our client's imagery fresh.

If you’re bored with the gig, it’ll show up in your work and the most loyal client will be looking to replace you with an enthusiastic new shooter.

That's a promise.

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Filming at The Blue Note

A few weeks ago we received a call from the Blue Note jazz club in NYC asking if we would spend a few nights filming a unique act.  World-renowned tap dancer Savion Glover would be performing with some special guests, which included McCoy Tyner, Eddie Palmieri, Roy Haynes and Jack DeJohnette.  

Anyone who has been to the Blue Note knows that there's not a lot of room to spare and the waitresses are constantly buzzing around with trays of food and drink.   The challenge then became, how to get the greatest production value, utilizing as small of a footprint as possible. 

Because of their quality and size, I used four Sony EX 3 XDCAM HD cameras, linked by time code, as well as a rough feed off the audio board provided by the audio engineer.  White balance was preset to 3200K on all cameras for consistency under the club’s unique, amber lighting.

We were allowed to remove three tables to position our cameras.  One camera was dedicated to stage front and I was shooting and calling the show on Clear-Com from a small balcony, using three

7" monitors clamped on the back of a chair.  This left only one table space for the remaining two cameras.

Squeezing two operators with tripods on full apple boxes into a space around nine square feet presented a challenge.  First, getting them close enough together to fit and second, getting them up high enough to see over the crowd and constant flurry of waitresses.   

Fortunately, one of our heads was fitted with a new set of Manfrotto 536 carbon fiber sticks.  Designed more like a still camera tripod capable of using a ball head and rising to amazing heights, it was able to tower over the crowd giving us a clear shot of the stage and even Savion’s feet.   It also made it a little easier to position two tripods together, requiring only one set of sticks on boxes. 

One other production must for the Blue Note:  Make sure to tip the waitresses for their lost table revenue if you want to get out alive. 

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The Beginning: Filming at Dawn

I must be nuts! I'm standing in the dark atop the New Jersey palisades looking out over the Hudson River at the New York City skyline waiting to film a sunrise. The temperature is in the low 20s and nearby flags are rippin' in the 25 mph wind. Using long lenses are out of the question. Still, it's beautiful!


My camera is a Sony EX3 XDCAM sitting securely on a Manfrotto 526 head and 536 carbon fiber legs. The combination might seem a bit overkill for smaller camera, but the wind is strong and at the telephoto end of the lens, there is still some vibration, so I've set up my tripod near a statue to help block the wind.

The sky is just beginning to glow and clouds are soaring across the horizon. Right now it is pretty dark, yet, as I'll be creating a time lapse, I'll need to take into consideration what the exposure will be when the sun is up above the horizon. If I set the camera to auto, it will make things brighter, but the gain will shoot up to compensate for the darkness, creating a grainy image. Experience tells me to put the ND filter on, pick an f-stop and let nature do the rest.


The EX3 lens has some issues when used above f- 5.6 so I'm keeping the iris at f-4.8 and using a Formatt .09 graduated filter in my Chroiziel matte box to knock down the sky. The sky is usually 3 or more stops brighter than the backlit skyline, so unless I want a the buildings to be totally silhouetted, I have to compensate for that. I've also inserted a Schneider 486 Tru Cut filter to cut down on infrared contamination. (More on this at a later date).


Great action is happening even before the sun rises above the skyline, with rays of light bursting through the clouds. The golden light is bouncing off the glass buildings and the exposure is changing by the second. There are a few zebras in the viewfinder, but mainly in the highlights of clouds and the image appears to be holding.


The view is so breathtaking that I almost forget that my hands are about to fall off from the cold. I vividly remember problems I would have using tape based cameras in extreme temperatures and I am thankful for direct to SxS card recording.


Back in the edit room the results were worth the pain. The images are amazing. One of the more telephoto shots has a slight vibration from occasional wind gust, easily fixed with some stabilization. One hour later, I'm still cold and we are heading out to shoot hospital exteriors. Yikes!
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